


Hurricane

by Aziiraphale



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurricane, Implied Laurens/Hamilton, Inspired by a tubmlr post, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 20:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5219648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aziiraphale/pseuds/Aziiraphale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern College AU</p>
<p>Hamilton has had bad experiences with storms. Burr doesn't understand, Laurens does. </p>
<p>Based on a tumblr post</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a tumblr post, which stuck with me. However, I don't know which user posted it, and can't find it again. If you know who wrote said post, please let me know so I can give them proper credit.

Aaron Burr hated the rain.

It always made him late. It made classes run longer than they should because professors figured the students wouldn’t be as eager to leave. The rain made people crowd the corridors, making it more difficult for those willing to brave the weather to even get outside. Burr hated the rain, but only because he hated being _late._

He hated being late because his endlessly irritating roommate, Alexander Hamilton, finished classes at the same time as him. But, because Hamilton was Hamilton, he always ended up staying behind to pester his professors about whatever was running through that unstoppable, raging mind of his. So, that meant that Burr was normally able to get back to their dorm a good half an hour before his roommate, giving him half an hour of peace and quiet before the inevitable argument he would have with Hamilton began. _And today, because of this stupid storm, he would lose his peace and quiet._

It was turning out to be a good one though; a great storm. The wind buffeted Burr’s coat and hair as he pushed his way towards his building, even as the heavy drops tried to push it down. There had been storm warnings all week, the aftershocks of a hurricane that had already ravaged another state. Still though, wind and rain alone was nothing to fear, in Burr’s mind anyway. Finally reaching his building, the first thing he noticed was the lack of light coming from the windows, _another blackout_. It seemed that shitty university electricity wasn’t cut out for much, even these days. Muttering, Burr had to use the light from his phone to get his key into the door lock; the light from the windows didn’t help much, it only served to cast the hallway in shades of grey.

Their room, of course, was dark. But at least, Burr thought, it appeared to be absent of his roommate. _Good,_ he didn’t think he could handle a debate soaking wet. As Burr turned to divest himself of his sopping coat, a shadow between the two beds caught his eye.

“ _Hamilton?”_

His roommate was sitting on the floor between their beds, back against the wall and hands clutching his too-thin knees as if his life depended on it. The normally energetic, constantly moving man stared straight ahead with haunted eyes, not appearing to have heard Burr, or even to have registered the man’s presence. Concerned, Burr moved closer, crouching down next to Hamilton’s still form.

“Hamilton… Alex? Are you okay?”

Again no response. The storm outside flashed and growled, causing Hamilton to flinch and whimper slightly. The sound was so slight, so child-like that Burr barely heard it from right next to him.

“Is it the storm? Alex you have to talk to me”

Despite their usual arguments, Burr had to admit that he did care for his younger roommate. It was nearly impossible not to; despite their near constant arguing, Hamilton had an infectious personality. His passion, while sometimes overkill, was enviable. The man’s near total lack of ability to take care of himself however sparked some sort of fraternal instinct in Burr. It was if Hamilton demanded, by very definition, to be taken care of. He would spend days writing without food or sleep. More than once Burr was forced to drag the man to bed before he collapsed. This though, this was different to Hamilton’s ‘standard’ episodes. This was something else entirely.

Hamilton had still made no movements, despite Burr’s attempts to bring him out of whatever state of terror he was in. He just kept looking blankly ahead of him, hands gripping his knees with white-knuckles and faint tremors running through him in time with the storm’s incessant grumbling.

A faint buzzing sound from on the bed dragged Burr’s attention away from Hamilton for a moment. The other man’s phone was ringing. Burr answered it, his voice breaking the silence of the room.

“Thank God, Alex are you okay? Where are you? Do you know how many times I’ve tried to call you, _I swear to god if-”_

“Laurens? This is Burr”

He could hear the confusion radiate from the other side of the phone

“Burr? Why do you have Alex’s phone? Do you know where he is?”

“He’s with me, he’s in our room. Listen Laurens if you dosed him with something…”

“Woah what the hell man,” Anger sounded through the tinny speaker “Is he okay?”

“You tell me!” Burr was getting annoyed, “He’s just staring into space. I need to know what he’s taken, do I need to call an ambulance?”

“Shit, he told me he was going to be fine” Laurens sounded worried “No, he hasn’t taken anything. Stay right where you are Burr.”

He heard movement on the other end, a door slamming and the echoing of the rain.

“I’m coming right over, and look, just don’t try to touch him, okay?”

Burr didn’t have time to respond before Laurens hung up. Clearly Laurens knew what was going on with Hamilton, who hadn’t done so much as flinch the whole time he had been on the phone. At least when the other man arrived he would be able to figure out what the hell was going on.

The storm crashed louder outside. It was going to be a long night.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurens arrives, and Burr is enlightened.

Even despite the torrent that was currently raining down on New York, Laurens only took ten minutes to reach Burr and Hamilton’s dorm room. Dripping, he rapped urgently on the door. Burr rose from where he was still attempting to get Hamilton’s attention, and opened the door for his roommate’s best friend.

“Where is he?” Laurens pushed into the room with barely a cursory glance at Burr, who would have been more annoyed if not for the look of concern on the other man’s face. Burr didn’t have to answer before Laurens spotted his friend, still curled on the floor, terrified.

Laurens crouched next to Hamilton

“Hey Alex. It’s me okay, it’s John”

 He spoke softly and gently as if to a child. Despite it being his room, Burr felt almost like his was intruding on some quiet moment between Laurens and Hamilton.

“Do you have a torch? Candles?” Laurens glanced at Burr, still preoccupied with Hamilton.

“I have a few candles”

“Light them”

The urgency in his voice compelled Burr to ignore the rudeness of his tone. He crossed to his desk, illuminating the room in what little way he could.

When Hamilton didn’t answer Laurens, John put his arm around his friend, pulling him into his side, muttering soft words of comfort.

“Come on Alex, you’re okay, I’m here. You’re _safe_ ” Hamilton’s eyes lost their blank stare for a moment, flicking over to his friend, and allowing himself to be pulled into the strong, yet gentle hug. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last.

“John?” Hamilton’s voice was barely a whisper, strangled and scared. At that moment, the storm seemed to intensify, causing a nearby tree branch to crash into the window, startling the three men. Hamilton flinched and whimpered into Laurens’ chest, before breaking out into soft, scared tears. Laurens pulled him closer still, offering his friend the comfort that he clearly needed. Weaving his hands through Hamilton’s hair, Laurens tried to calm him.

“It’s okay, it’s just a normal storm. You’re not there anymore, it can’t hurt you”.

Eventually, Hamilton started to relax, exhausted against Laurens’ shoulder. Even in his sleep he looked tortured. Sighing, Laurens motioned to Burr to help him move the man to his bed. Burr obliged wordlessly, almost having assumed Laurens had forgotten his presence. After covering Hamilton with a blanket and making him comfortable, Laurens gestured to Burr to talk to him in the hallway.

“I’m gonna need to stay with him tonight, if that’s okay with you”. Laurens looked worried still, a frown pulling at his freckled features. Bur shrugged,

“You can take the couch if you like, I have spare blankets” Normally Burr wouldn’t be so accommodating. When Laurens and Hamilton were put together, they were usually twice the trouble and guaranteed to be causing some mischief somewhere. The thought of a whole night of the two of them would generally be a horrific one. Tonight however, he doubted there would be revelry, and Laurens clearly knew how to deal with Hamilton.

Laurens gave a wry smile

“You know Burr, you’re not so bad”

“Is he going to be okay?” The smile dropped off Laurens’ face.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. It’s the storm, they always affect him like this. Brings back bad memories,” Burr nodded, he knew that Hamilton, like himself, had experienced a fair amount of tragedy in his short life. “He told me he was going to be fine this time, he said all of the storm warnings gave him time to prepare. I should have known better, Alex never likes to say when he needs help”

“This has happened before? I’ve never noticed”

Despite having roomed with Hamilton for over six months, Burr was sure that storms had been and gone before, and he was sure that he would have noticed this sort of reaction.

“He’s roomed with me every time before this”

 

 

John remembered the first time there’d been a storm.

They had been in the Library studying for a test. Naturally, Alex had worked himself practically to the bone. He’d decided the best way to revise would be to write out – by hand – everything they had learnt that semester. Needless to say, the man was surviving on a strict diet of coffee and stress. John had given up trying to study and decided it would be a much better idea to drag his idiot friend out for some proper food. Lafayette and Mulligan mentioned that they were planning to try out a new restaurant just off-campus _; maybe that would be a good idea_.

One of the disadvantages of the library, however, was that it had barely any windows, which were mostly obscured by the expansive shelves. So, when they reached the doors of the library and found that the courtyard had been transformed into a swirling mess of leaves, rain and wind, they were both surprised. Lighting flashed in the sky, closely followed by thunder’s loud grumble.

“Fuck”

John swore, _of course_ this would be the day he decided that neither a coat nor an umbrella were necessary. He didn’t notice the way that Alex had frozen up behind him, the way his eyes grew wide and his breath started coming in shorter and shorter pants. He was too preoccupied with trying to call a cab to come pick them up. He knew Alex would insist on walking to save money, but there was no way he was letting his friend walk home in _this._

A cold hand clutched his wrist.

“Alex? Shit man, what’s wrong?”

John panicked at the look of pure terror on his friend’s face. Alex shook his head frantically, trying to keep it together despite the panic that was rising up. Making a decision quickly, John pulled Alex back into the dry warmth of the library, coaxing him as quickly as possible in between stacks where no-one would be able to see, hear or disturb them.

He had to admit, that these weren’t exactly the circumstances he imagined himself doing this in.

But, necessity was necessity, and he was more concerned about his friend than any _other_ thoughts. He sat Alex down on the floor, grounding the man with a firm arm around his shoulders. Guiding his head between his knees, John knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere until Alex stopped panicking. Eventually, his breathing evened out, and despite still shaking slightly, some colour had returned to his thin cheeks.

“Dude, you okay?”

Alex nodded weakly.

“I’m good”

“Want to talk about it?” Clearly Alex had something going on, but John wasn’t going to force him to talk if he wasn’t up to it. Even if his friend had just scared him half to death. Hamilton swallowed, but nodded slowly.

“When I was 17 a hurricane destroyed my town. I didn’t drown” He took a few deep breaths before carrying on. He told John about the destruction of the storm. About how he spend days huddled under debris and the howling wind, convinced that he was going to die. He told John how he still couldn’t understand how he survived, and that every time there was a storm, he couldn’t help but think that nature was finally coming for him. That surviving was a mistake that needed to be rectified.

By the time he finished his story, if both of them were trying to hide tears the other didn’t mention it. They sat together, warm and safe, until the storm subsided. Deciding there was no way he was leaving Alex alone, not tonight, John insisted his friend go home with him. From then a tradition was born, whenever a storm hit, Alex would seek refuge in John’s room until the worst was over.

 

 

“I had no idea” Burr felt a new wave of sympathy for his roommate. The man had been through enough. He resolved to attempt to be nicer to him in the future, although something told him that Hamilton would hate him for his pity.

Laurens rubbed his forehead tiredly.

“What was it you mentioned about blankets?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm genuinely so grateful to everyone who has read, left kudos and commented on this story. I wasn't expecting it at all, so thank you to all of you!
> 
> I'll probably do one more chapter, which'll be the morning after. Fingers crossed you all like it!

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally my first fanfiction in years, and as a british person writing american revolution fanfic, I'd just like to send a big fuck you to my friend who introduced me to Hamilton. Why would you destroy my soul like this?


End file.
